Mexico City, once again!

It seems like time has flown by but so much has happened in the past month that I can't possibly get my head around trying to write it in one go, I know I'll forget a million important things and places and perhaps I'll tell it all wrong, but now that I finally have the time it's worth a try.
I arrived in Mexico about a month ago and most of the other 'Foringers' who came for the wedding arrived at about the same time. It was great to see my old friends and the familiar faces again and of course the friendly Taco man at the corner was forewarned to stock up for our imminent arrival. It seems we've become as much legends to him as he has to us, his big smile became even broader at the realization that he has gone 'International' and he was serving to 6 different nationalities in one night. He still tells his customers of the blue eyed girl who eats a lot and has no fear of Chilli and Steffy 'el Aventuro' who ordered testicle, brain and eye tacos on his first visit. Now that I have traveled more of Mexico I believed I am qualified to say that it is indisputably, the best taco stand in all of Mexico!
After a few days of jet lag recovery and taco gorging we made our way 'en Masse' to Tehuacan for the wedding celebrations, there was a short stop off in Puebla on the way and only one out of the 2 cars broke down so by Mexican standards we were already doing well.
We arrived in Tehuacan in the evening and there was a buzz of excitement about the town in preparation for the most international wedding the town had ever seen. Everyone wanted to know who all the 'blond' girls were, even though there was only one blond girl, we were all considered blond for the occasion. On our first evening in Tehuacan there was a BBQ at the father of the Bride, Don Luciano's house, it wasn't an Australian BBQ but 3 old Mexican ladies making fresh tortillas and the Marriachis seranading Laura for her birthday (or Lauritta as she was to become known from then on). It was also my first meeting with the groom. My first impression was of Teemu and Paula dancing to the marriachis. It's so rare to be able to get everything out of tune but when you do it creates the most beautiful harmony, this is what Paula and Teemu were like dancing, perfectly out of tune and perfect for each other, I liked him straight away! The night progressed into tequila drinking madness, and ended up with the first of the 'after parties' back in the Finnish guys suite at Hotel Mexico, I had the honour of fighting in the last ever Mexican wrestling match with 'Teemu the bachelor', for the next day he was to become 'El Tule' and would be fighting in a completely new division!
The Big day arrived the all the hangovers seemed to magically disappear with the help of the 'Hotel Mexico' breakfast and a couple of hours of poolside lounging. All the girls gathered in the hair salon with a few bottles of bubbly and had the wonderfully hairdressers of Tehuacan created sculptures on top of our 'blond' heads. The wedding ceremony was really beautiful, there were lots of tears and ruined mascara and candles and drunk Finnish men, all the things no good wedding should be without. Conni arranged for a painting to be painted by all the guests, each painting a small square of it, it turned out very different than she had planned but it looked so great. We all sang a very bad rendition of one of Blues Hags favourites 'Meet me in Stockmanns, Baby' accompanied by a very drunken Blues Hag on the guitar. Makke made a heart wrenching 'Best Man' speech with accompanying slideshow and the 'piece de resistance' was the cake, which was a Mexican wrestling ring containing action figures of Santo and wonderwoman.
The wedding party was followed by the after party in yet another of the suites in Hotel Mexico. I think it was the greatest of all the after parties, although there is very little of it I remember, I kept looking up from my glass of tequila thinking I was in a really great movie. The only things missing were 3.5 Verbeelens.
In keeping with the tradition started by the verbeelens, we all went on a communal honeymoon, 14 of us in all. The 'honeymoon' took us through Oaxaca and Monte Alban to the beaches where we spent a few days of much needed chillaxation by the coast in Mazunte. We spent most of our days soaking up the sun on the beach with occasional trips into the sea where we would be inhaled and exhaled by the huge waves like a feather on the nose of a sleeping drunk man. We had the pleasure of many beach parties, Firedancers, after parties, a boat trip, many feet injuries, dubious Mexican transportation, a wonderful Fish feast (the catch of a days fishing by the boys) and we were present for the biggest scandal ever to hit Mazunte. A small plane loaded with cocaine from Columbia crashed in the next bay to ours. Nobody was hurt but the smugglers gave a local farmer a case full of money to drive them to a safe house, the farmer couldn't wait to tell someone and of course the story was all around the town by the end of the day. When we were leaving Mazunte the Military were stopping and searching cars at every corner, we were searched 2ce on our trip back to Oaxaca. It sounds like the plot from a bad 80´s movie but I believe it is true, only in Mexico...
After a few days of luxury in Oaxaca everyone headed back to Mexico city where the designers had a commitment to fulfill. We had a day on the canals discussing Design with a Mexcian Architecture Magazine, the results of which will be published in November, no doubt accompanied by a few photos of the international designer hangovers.